Oregon head coach Dana Altman tinkered his way through the opening minutes of the second half Sunday. Nine different Ducks saw the court by the 15:17 mark as Altman sought a lineup that could hold its own against Utah.

A peculiar impulsiveness for a coach who thinks he understands his team’s pulse.

“To be where we want to be, we can’t play small ball,” Altman said, two weeks ago, prophesying that a strength for the Ducks in the early season wouldn’t be sustainable against the class of the Pac-12. “Colorado’s got some size, Utah’s got size. We’ve gotten away with it.”

In many ways, his fears came to fruition as Oregon (13-5, 5-2) dropped its first two Pac-12 games of the season in subsequent fashion, losing 86-70 to Colorado on Thursday and 80-77 to Utah on Sunday.

That being said, the losses weren’t a product of overwhelming size: The Buffaloes Tristan da Silva went 4-of-13 from the field, while Eddie Lampkin spent most of the night in foul trouble; against the Utes, Keba Keita fouled out in 18 minutes.

Instead, the Ducks’ glut of complementary guards were outplayed by their opponents: slashers who disregarded light perimeter defense to finish time and again in the paint, over poor — and sometimes nonexistent — rim protection.

Last Thursday, Cody Williams and KJ Simpson were a combined 17-of-28 from the field for 45 points. And Sunday — asked to fulfill both facilitating and scoring duties with Rollie Worster sidelined — Utes guard Deivon Smith took complete control down the stretch.

While these Ducks don’t have the handful of confounding losses to lesser opponents that last year’s team compiled, some of the same problems linger: In their five losses, they’ve conceded an average of 87.2 points.